Latest news with #ChagosDeal
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
The world is laughing at Britain, and only Starmer hasn't noticed
So finally, Labour's policies are resulting in tax cuts, and the Laffer Curve is back in fashion. At last, people are going to keep more of their hard-earned money, a big chunk of the national debt will be paid off and, to cap it all, minimum salaries are going to be raised and VAT on food will be reduced. Yes, the people of Mauritius sure have done well out of the Chagos deal. That £30 billion windfall, all paid for by the British taxpayer, is going to be put to excellent economy-boosting use. And who can blame them for celebrating? Their government has played an absolute blinder. Of course, we could get all picky and start asking awkward questions about why the Chagos Islands should be surrendered at all, least of all to an African country more than a thousand miles across the Indian Ocean. But that would be to rain on the Mauritian parade. It's their day and their victory, and while it was against abject, third-rate opposition, we mustn't carp. There's nothing worse than a bad loser. But we are within our rights, I reckon, to ask why good things always happen to other people. What are the chances of us British being gifted £30 billion from another country, plus a brand-new territory to paint pink on maps? I'm trying to think of an equivalent. Perhaps Spain paying us to take Tenerife off its hands, and throwing in the Women's World Cup as a juicy extra? But we British are the baddies, so we must always pay for our sins. Some international court has told us exactly that, and under the Government we elected last summer, that's final. Never mind the humiliation, the terrifying security considerations and the almighty cost. And what about the Chagossians themselves, who have been treated disgracefully throughout? Oh, sod 'em. This is the Starmer way. And hunker down, because we've got at least four more years of it. Are you happy now, you Tories who preferred to stay at home last July rather than strolling to the polling station? Ever think you might have been conned by all those bright red 'Change' placards behind Sir Keir? Well, at least when Rachel Reeves breaks yet more promises and raises our taxes in her budget this autumn, and when she comes up with yet more tripe about black holes, working people, a changing world and fixing foundations, we'll know that the rest of the world is having a darn good laugh at our expense. Yes, we are the butt of a hilarious joke by a mocking Mauritian government. And we can't complain. A baddy always gets a comeuppance in the end.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Starmer's Chagos ‘surrender' will fund tax cuts for Mauritians
Sir Keir Starmer's Chagos ' surrender ' deal will fund tax cuts for Mauritians, it has emerged. The Mauritian government has said it will use almost £500 million in payments under the terms of the Chagos agreement to pay off its national debt. This will allow ministers to abolish income tax entirely for 81 per cent of employed Mauritians, and raise minimum salaries. Sir Keir has been criticised over the deal, which will cost the UK up to £30 billion over a 99-year period, including rent payments to use a joint US-UK military base on the Chagos Islands and creating a pot of development spending for Mauritius. Conservative and Reform MPs have said the 'surrender' of the islands, which have been owned by the UK since before Mauritius was granted independence in 1968, is unnecessary and expensive. The terms of the deal include rent payments of £165 million a year for the next three years for the Diego Garcia military base, which has been used for bombing runs by Britain and America in the Middle East. Mauritian leaders celebrated the deal as the ' decolonisation ' of the Chagos Islands, which lie at the centre of the Indian Ocean and are uninhabited except for military personnel. Navin Ramgoolam, the Mauritian prime minister, has now announced that the money paid by the UK will help Mauritius cut taxes, so that 81 per cent of people in the African island nation will not pay any income tax. It comes despite warnings that Britons face tax hikes in Rachel Reeves's Budget this autumn, which is now thought to contain a black hole tens of billions of pounds large. The Mauritian reforms were announced in a budget speech by Mr Ramgoolam on Wednesday, when he said that the UK's Chagos payments for the next three years would be used to help pay off the country's national debt, which has reached 90 per cent of GDP. He said that to reach a long-term debt level of 60 per cent, the government would adjust 'both the expenditure side and the revenue side of the budget', and raise the minimum salary before an employee pays income tax to £1,774 a year. That increase, of 28 per cent, will scrap income tax entirely for 44,000 people and reduce levies on all other earners. 'As a result of the measures I have introduced, 81 per cent of employees in our country will not pay any income tax,' he said, adding that he had also decided to cut VAT on some food products. After three years, British payments for the Chagos Islands will be used for a 'future fund' to 'create wealth for future generations,' Mr Ramgoolam said. Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said the announcement showed that Mauritius had taken the 'feeble and pathetic' Sir Keir 'for a ride'. 'The only people benefiting from Labour's higher taxes are the people of Mauritius,' she said. 'While causing a financial black hole in Britain, whacking up our taxes and planning further tax raids, Labour's Chagos surrender deal means families in Mauritius will see their taxes cut at our expense. 'This is an insult to hard-working British people who have once again been betrayed by Keir Starmer with millions more paying more in tax.'
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Minister defends ‘good value' Chagos deal as Badenoch says Trump ‘laughing'
A minister has said the US will be paying 'many multiples more' to operate the Diego Garcia military base than the UK will pay to lease it under the Chagos deal, as Kemi Badenoch said the agreement would leave Donald Trump 'laughing'. Armed forces minister Luke Pollard defended the deal as 'good value' but the Tory leader said the US president has got a 'great deal at the expense of the UK'. In a treaty to 'complete the process of decolonisation of Mauritius', the Government has agreed to pay at least £120 million-a-year for 99 years for control of the vital Diego Garcia base, plus hand over £1.125 billion for economic development over a 25-year period. The Government has faced questions about their estimation of the full cost. Officials said the deal amounted to an average of £101 million a year in 2025/26 prices with an overall cost of £3.4 billion a year 'using a net present value methodology'. The Tories have said the true cost of the deal could rise to more than £30 billion if inflation is at the 2% target. Mr Pollard stood firm on the figures and said the cost was 'comparable' to bases other allies lease in the region. 'So it's £3.4 billion over 99 years – that represents good value,' he told Sky News. The French pay 85 million euros a year to rent a base in Djibouti that is 'literally next door to the Chinese naval base that's leased there', he said. He argued that Diego Garcia is '15 times bigger than that French base' and the UK had secured an 'exclusion zone' around the base to protect UK and US operations. The Trump administration in Washington supported the deal, which guarantees the future of the base which is used extensively by the US armed forces. Asked why the US is not contributing to the cost of leasing back the base, he said the partner country pays much more in operational costs. 'What we are bringing to the deal is the real estate, the UK will be leasing the base and the Americans pay for the operating costs of the base – now that is many multiples more than the leasing cost,' he told Times Radio. Tory leader Mrs Badenoch said the US was benefiting at the UK's expense. 'Donald Trump is laughing at that Chagos deal,' the Conservative Party leader told BBC Breakfast. 'He's welcoming it because he's not going to have to pay very much, if anything at all. 'He's got a great deal at the expense of the UK. That's not right. It hasn't been done in our national interest. 'What I want to see is more nurses being paid well but we can't do that because we're taking a lot of terrible decisions under Keir Starmer that are weakening our country.' The total cash cost over the 99-year term of the deal will be at least £13 billion for the use of the base and the 25-year agreement to hand over money to support projects to promote the 'economic development and welfare of Mauritius'. The International Court of Justice, in an advisory opinion in 2019, said the Chagos Archipelago should be handed over. Ministers argued that the deal needed to be done because the UK would have faced legal challenges 'within weeks' which could have jeopardised the operation of the Indian Ocean base which is used by US and British forces. The UK will retain full operational control of Diego Garcia, including the electromagnetic spectrum satellite used for communications which counters hostile interference. A 24-nautical mile buffer zone will be put in place around the island where nothing can be built or placed without UK consent.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Minister defends ‘good value' Chagos deal as Badenoch says Trump ‘laughing'
A minister has said the US will be paying 'many multiples more' to operate the Diego Garcia military base than the UK will pay to lease it under the Chagos deal, as Kemi Badenoch said the agreement would leave Donald Trump 'laughing'. Armed forces minister Luke Pollard defended the deal as 'good value' but the Tory leader said the US president has got a 'great deal at the expense of the UK'. In a treaty to 'complete the process of decolonisation of Mauritius', the Government has agreed to pay at least £120 million-a-year for 99 years for control of the vital Diego Garcia base, plus hand over £1.125 billion for economic development over a 25-year period. The Government has faced questions about their estimation of the full cost. Officials said the deal amounted to an average of £101 million a year in 2025/26 prices with an overall cost of £3.4 billion a year 'using a net present value methodology'. The Tories have said the true cost of the deal could rise to more than £30 billion if inflation is at the 2% target. Mr Pollard stood firm on the figures and said the cost was 'comparable' to bases other allies lease in the region. 'So it's £3.4 billion over 99 years – that represents good value,' he told Sky News. The French pay 85 million euros a year to rent a base in Djibouti that is 'literally next door to the Chinese naval base that's leased there', he said. He argued that Diego Garcia is '15 times bigger than that French base' and the UK had secured an 'exclusion zone' around the base to protect UK and US operations. The Trump administration in Washington supported the deal, which guarantees the future of the base which is used extensively by the US armed forces. Asked why the US is not contributing to the cost of leasing back the base, he said the partner country pays much more in operational costs. 'What we are bringing to the deal is the real estate, the UK will be leasing the base and the Americans pay for the operating costs of the base – now that is many multiples more than the leasing cost,' he told Times Radio. Tory leader Mrs Badenoch said the US was benefiting at the UK's expense. 'Donald Trump is laughing at that Chagos deal,' the Conservative Party leader told BBC Breakfast. 'He's welcoming it because he's not going to have to pay very much, if anything at all. 'He's got a great deal at the expense of the UK. That's not right. It hasn't been done in our national interest. 'What I want to see is more nurses being paid well but we can't do that because we're taking a lot of terrible decisions under Keir Starmer that are weakening our country.' The total cash cost over the 99-year term of the deal will be at least £13 billion for the use of the base and the 25-year agreement to hand over money to support projects to promote the 'economic development and welfare of Mauritius'. The International Court of Justice, in an advisory opinion in 2019, said the Chagos Archipelago should be handed over. Ministers argued that the deal needed to be done because the UK would have faced legal challenges 'within weeks' which could have jeopardised the operation of the Indian Ocean base which is used by US and British forces. The UK will retain full operational control of Diego Garcia, including the electromagnetic spectrum satellite used for communications which counters hostile interference. A 24-nautical mile buffer zone will be put in place around the island where nothing can be built or placed without UK consent.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The judge who blocked the Chagos deal at the 11th hour
The Chagos deal was temporarily blocked at the 11th hour by the same judge who sentenced the Southport killer. Mr Justice Goose oversaw the sentencing of Axel Rudakubana earlier this year, where he expressed frustration that he could not impose a whole life order. The High Court judge has now put an interim stop on Sir Keir Starmer handing the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The Prime Minister had been set to attend a 'virtual signing ceremony' with representatives from the Mauritian government on Thursday. However, Sir Julian Nicholas Goose, 63, has put the future of the controversial deal, which was expected to cost the UK taxpayer around £9 billion, in the air. The judge of the King's Bench division issued a dramatic ruling in the early hours, barring the Government from proceeding with the deal before a further hearing on Thursday morning. High-profile cases Mr Justice Goose has overseen some of the most high-profile criminal cases in the country since his appointment to the High Court in October 2017. In January, he handed down a minimum 52-year term to Rudakubana for the killing of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Bebe King, six. During the sentencing, he had to order that the killer be removed from the dock as he repeatedly interrupted proceedings and shouted out. Rudakubana was 17 at the time he carried out the fatal attack, so the judge said the law 'did not permit' him to impose a whole life order. Condemning his actions while passing sentence, he told Rudakubana he would 'likely never be released' and spend the rest of his life in custody. Other high-profile cases include the Wallasey pub shooting in Merseyside. In July 2023, he jailed Connor Chapman for a minimum of 48 years for the 2022 Christmas Eve murder of Elle Edwards with a military grade submachine gun. Elsewhere, in another case which attracted much media attention, he sentenced four men for the murder of Ashley Dale, a woman who was killed in her own home by a gunman searching for her boyfriend. Called to the bar 40 years ago In his early years, Mr Justice Goose grew up in Sheffield and was educated in the city. He completed a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Leeds before being called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1984. The father of three served as a recorder from 1998 to 2013, while taking silk in 2002. Between 2004 and 2013, he was head of chambers at Zenith Chambers and then served as a senior circuit judge and resident judge at Sheffield Combined Court Centre from 2013 to 2017. He was the honorary recorder of Sheffield for the same period and the Sentencing Council from 2014 to 2020. After appointment as a High Court judge in 2017, he took the customary knighthood and has been the Presiding Judge of the Northern Circuit since January 2022.
